PhD Top-Up Scholarship in App-Based Technologies to Personalise Treatments for Addictions and OCD Monash University

Announcing an opportunity for a PhD student on the growing enthusiasm for scalable e-health tools, together with the accessibility of app-based technologies (e.g., smartphones, tablets), have provided a unique opportunity for the development of a next generation of assessment tools for addiction and mental health conditions. To this end, the currently underway Monash and Cogstate (‘MonCog’) Project aims to develop a one-of-a-kind electronic battery with industry partners that is informed by neuroscience, engaging, and clinically useful for the assessment and monitoring of individuals across the spectrum of compulsive disorders.

This PhD will involve a number of exciting studies, including:

the development and optimisation of cognitive-affective app-based tools

the phenotyping of these constructs (e.g., impulsivity, compulsivity, expectancy, reward learning) to statistically model how they causally contribute to compulsive behaviours

iii) the prototyping of the MonCog app as a predictor of treatment response across our suite of next-generation therapeutics (e.g., exercise, mindfulness meditation) to move towards a more personalised medicine.

The successful candidate will be supervised by Professor Murat Yücel and Dr Rico Lee. They will have the opportunity to gain experience in working with industry, to develop advanced statistical know-how (eg structural equation modelling), and to be at the forefront of translating basic and clinical research into the clinic. to work with individuals on how therapeutic virtual reality (VR) has the potential to revolutionise the way we treat mental illnesses. Through VR we can bring therapeutic environments directly into the clinician’s office, and patients can engage in therapeutic work in realistic virtual scenarios that are customised to their psychological needs.

A scholarship top-up opportunity of $6,000 per year, for three years, will be available for outstanding candidates who have met the academic requirements and have been successful at a competitive scholarship.

Please include:

• a cover letter with a brief outline (1 page) of your interests and suitability for the research

• a curriculum vitae including academic transcript(s) and any published works